Face protection grill including at least one wire

ABSTRACT

A face protection grill includes at least one wire with a shadow surface and a reflection surface. The surfaces are positioned relative to the user&#39;s eyes when the face protection grill is in a usage position in front of the user&#39;s face. The reflection surface has a surface part wherefrom a light source above the head of the user directly coming light beam is able to reflect directly to the field of vision of the user and to cause dazzle to the user, in the connection area of the mentioned shadow and reflection surfaces situated rounding or bevelling forming an area the width of which or the straightened width is max 0.75 mm, or there is a sharp edge in the connection point of the shadow area and the reflection area.

FIELD

The aspects of the disclosed embodiments are directed to a face protection grill that includes at least one wire which wire has a shadow surface and a reflection surface.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF RELATED DEVELOPMENTS

Artificial light is always attempted to be arranged to provide steady light and dazzle or distract the player as little as possible. It is typical for the face protection grill of the known technology that the large reflection surfaces of the face protection grill reflect the sun light coming from above and the big amount of the artificial light beams so that these reflected beams hit the eye pupils of the player along the seeing lines of the player causing dazzling and dazzle. Such dazzling or dazzle can be distracting to the player and interfere with the field of view and the vision of the player. In other words, even though the vision direction of the player is normally directly forward or inclined downwards and the light beam does not hit the eye directly from the light source, one cannot however avoid the dazzle.

In addition to the light beams coming from the light source, also other light reflects to the face protection grill from the surroundings, e.g. windows, audience flashlight and/or ice hockey rink light ice and borders and also from the own face of the face protection grill user. As the face protection grill is typically near the face of the player, the light beams reflecting from the grill wires have a short way to the eyes and the dazzle can be very powerful. The nearer the grill is to the face the greater sector of the field of vision is covered by the wires. If the grill is placed farther from the face also the light beams coming from behind diagonally of the player can reflect to the eyes from the wires.

It is known that by forming the wires for the face protection grill, by coating and placing the wires, one can attempt to get an optimum situation in every game and sport: sufficient protection for the face, as good as possible vision field, sufficient strength and minimum dazzle problem. To achieve the last mentioned the wires are coated with for instance dark paints or matt coatings. These do not however remove totally the reflection and they cause other problems. For instance in ice hockey the black colour has generally been abandoned because the puck is black and it is more difficult to notice it in that case.

It is also known that the horizontal wires reflect light that is coming from above into the eyes more efficiently than the vertical wires. In the field of vision of the user of the grill it is possible that from the horizontal round wire surface about half can reflect light into the players eyes and about a half of this area can reflect above the horizontal level of the eyes of the player coming light directly from a light source into the players eyes. E.g. in ceiling lighting a sportsman senses the reflection from the horizontal wires as narrow and bright, as an area following the shape of the wire lengthwise and this dazzles the performance. The strength of the reflection depends upon the strength of the light source, the direction of the light, the shape of the wire and its surface quality.

The most known wire profile is nowadays round and other profiles are for instance oval, rectangle with rounded corners. These last mentioned profiles have come as the goal has been to minimize obstacles for seeing and at the same time to reach a sufficient strength for the wires. All the nowadays profiles have an especially big reflection surface for from above coming light.

The vertical wires according to the known technology reflect into the eyes especially horizontally and in small angle with it coming light beams. In this case, these light beams do not come directly from a light source and they are thus weaker than the light coming from these sources, but the reflection area of the wire is a very great part of the surfaces of the wires. E.g. a round wire can well have over a half as a reflecting surface and the colour shade of the wire can be very different than the background

The before described known technology is used generally in the production of the face protection grills.

THE DRAWBACKS OF THE KNOWN TECHNOLOGY

The greatest drawback of the known technology is the reflection inconvenience to the user's eyes. Because of the forming of the wires these wires have on their surfaces a relatively big area where light coming from above the eye level light source directly can reflect to the grill user's field of vision and hit his eyes. As the light that has been reflected to the field of vision meets the vision line of the eye a dazzle follows.

It would be advantageous to provide a face protection grill that has at least one wire and that avoids the drawbacks of the known technology.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

As described herein, the exemplary embodiments overcome one or more of the above or other disadvantages known in the art.

The usages of the disclosed embodiments are such sports and hobby activities where a face protection grill, such as a mask or cage, for example, is used. It is characteristic for almost all of these sports and activities that they are done in bright light, either in sun light or in artificial light. Different things, e.g. good observation of the play or telecasting, demand a bright lighting to be arranged for these happenings. The artificial lighting is installed always to come from above to the playing field and the sun light comes naturally from that direction.

THE TERMINOLOGY

In this document, the term “wire”, wires, bars and all other mean similar lengthy face protection grill organs that are used to form a generally lattice type face protection grill. It will be noted that the face protection grill of the disclosed embodiments may also be referred to as a mask or cage.

A light source above the face protection grill user means a light source that has the same direction as the playing field/sports arena above the mentioned user's eye level as the user is in normal performance position.

THE ADVANTAGES OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

The greatest advantage of the disclosed embodiments can be seen that the surface area of the wires where the light beam comes directly from the light source and can reflect into the field of vision and hit the eyes of the grill user is essentially smaller than in the solutions according to the known technology. This provides the concrete advantage that the user of the face protection grill of the disclosed embodiments gets essentially less dazzle or distraction for their eyes than before.

An additional advantage of the disclosed embodiments is that by setting the reflection surfaces it is possible to lessen the dazzle that comes from other parts in the surrounding area or field of view than the direct light source.

These and other aspects and advantages of the exemplary embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the disclosed embodiments, for which reference should be made to the appended claims. Moreover, the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale and unless otherwise indicated, they are merely intended to conceptually illustrate the structures and procedures described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The aspects of the disclosed embodiments are described in more detail in the enclosed drawings, where

FIG. 1, presents one embodiment of front view of the face protection grill,

FIG. 2, presents the before mentioned face protection grill cut in two in the middle, a cross-sectional view,

FIG. 3, presents the before mentioned part enlarged in position 1,

FIG. 4, presents an enlarged wire in the before mentioned position,

FIGS. 5a, 5b, 6a and 6b , the aspects of the disclosed embodiments are compared with the known technology,

FIGS. 7a-7o , present different applications of the aspects of the disclosed embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DISCLOSED EMBODIMENTS

Now there follows advantageous application structure and functioning of the aspects of the disclosed embodiments by referring to the before mentioned figures.

In FIG. 1, there is presented a front view of a face protection grill incorporating aspects of the disclosed embodiments. In FIG. 2 there is a vertical cut in the middle of the face protection grill (FIG. 1 A-A) illustrating a cross-sectional view. Above the face protection grill there is typically a helmet connection with which the face protection grill of this example is used. In this example, the wires 1 comprise horizontal wires 1 and vertical wires 2. It can be seen in FIG. 2 that these wires 1, 2 are in front of the users face when the face protection grill is in the usage position and that the user's head is essentially in upright position and that the look is directed forward, and in some cases down diagonally.

FIG. 3 is a detail figure from FIG. 2 and it presents one horizontal wire 1 cut, or in cross-section and in more detail and its position relative to the users eyes E. In FIG. 4 an even more enlarged cut or cross-section of the mentioned wire. In FIG. 4, it is possible to see the wires surfaces division into shadow surface referenced as “a” and a reflection surface referenced as “b”.

According to the aspects of the disclosed embodiments, the cross-sectional profile of the wires 1 and 2 is generally non-circular. While the aspects of the disclosed embodiments will generally be described herein with respect to the substantially horizontally oriented wire 1, the aspects of the disclosed embodiments can be similarly applied to the substantially vertically oriented wire 2.

As is shown in FIG. 4, the cross-sectional profile of the wire 1 is substantially 3-sided, similar to a triangle. In the example of FIG. 4, the base or wider end portion is facing or towards the user. The narrower end or tip portion is away from the face of the user. The sides of the wire 1 will be referred to as the shadow surface a, while the base portion is referred to as the reflection surface b.

In this embodiment, the shadow surface a is outside of the field of vision of the user and the reflection surface b is within the field of vision of the user. The field of vision is formed together of the cone areas where one eye can see. The light beams coming from the light source (sun, flood lamps etc.) and hitting directly this wire 1 are divided to or between the shadow surface a and the reflection surface b. The light beams hitting the shadow surface a cannot be reflected with one reflection into the field of vision of the user. The light beams that hit the reflection surface b have a chance with a certain entering angle to be reflected to the field of vision and hit the eyes of the user. When a light beam that has been reflected into the field of vision hits the eye it causes dazzle.

Further, it can be seen in the FIG. 4 that almost all of the reflecting surface b of the wire according to the disclosed embodiments is in shadow to the light source L and only a small part of it, that is part of surface b2, is in such a position that a light beam 101 coming directly to it from the light source can be reflected to the field of vision of the user and hit, with certain conditions, the pupil of the eye E.

This part of surface b2 is in this example a part of above corner rounding. If the corner in question is pointed, that is there is an edge, the part of surface b2 vanishes to next to nothing and the light beam 101 can be reflected into the field of vision only occasionally from this line-like edge. Through the reflection surface b1 only the light beams 200 of the surrounding can be reflected into the eye E of the user, with or under certain conditions. The surface part b1 in this example means the straight part and a part of the lower corner rounding. In this setting, an essential part of the light beams hitting the wire 1 and coming from the light source L directly are light beams 100 that hit the shadow surface a and they are reflected there outside the field of vision.

When the profile of the wire(s) of face protection grill of the disclosed embodiments is compared with the profiles of the known technology (round, ellipse, corners rounded rectangle), there is an essential difference between them just in the part of surface b2 in the reflection surfaces where it is possible for the light beams 101 to direct into the field of vision and be directed into the eye E. In the wires within the known technology, this part of surface b2 is essentially larger than in the wires according to the disclosed embodiments.

Using FIGS. 5a and 5b , a comparison is made between the mentioned part of surface b2 of the horizontal wire of a face protection grill of the known technology (FIG. 5a ) and the horizontal wire 1 of the face protection grill according to the disclosed embodiments, illustratively. In this comparison the starting point has been a theoretical extreme case, that the lighting or lamp can be anywhere above the level of the face protection grill user's eye level, but the advantage of the usage of the disclosed embodiments comes true relationally in the same amount also all those cases where the light sources L are located in a narrower area above the sports arena.

In FIG. 5a , the diameter 3 mm round wire of the known technology wire part b2 is by extension about ¼ about the surface of the wire, that is this is the area where from the light beams coming from above the horizontal level hl above the player's eye level directly from light source can be reflected into the player's field of vision and hit the player's eyes with certain conditions (entering angle). The straightened width w of the surface part b2 is in this case 2.4 mm.

In FIG. 5b , a certain part of wire b5 according to the disclosed embodiments is a part of the rounded edge in the connection of the shadow surface a and the reflection surface b. As this rounding radius is approximately 0.3 mm so the example to be compared to FIG. 5a gives the light reflection area (about 90°) and the straightened width w is thus about 0.47 mm. There is an essential difference between the reflected light amounts as between the surface parts b2.

Thus, according to the aspects of the disclosed embodiments, the shadow surface a is that surface of the wire 1 where the arriving light beams 100 and none of the light beams 100 can be reflected directly into the field of vision and hit the eye E, or the surface of the eye, while the face protection grill is in the usage position in front of the face of the user. The reflection surface b is that part of the wire surface where the arriving light beams 101, 200, at least some or each in turn can be reflected under certain conditions into the field of vision, hit the eye and cause dazzle. Thus, the reflection surface b can receive also light beams 200 that come from the light source L into the surrounding and that are reflected from there but the dazzle they cause is always less than the dazzle caused by the light beams directly from the light source L. The aspects of the disclosed embodiments advantageously reduce the light that may be reflected into the eye E or vision of the user.

Differently from the horizontal wires 1, it can be caused in the vertical wires 2 or the diagonal wires two surface parts b2. In this case, the light coming from the different light sources L that are situated in the different sides of the user of the face protection grill hit both sides of the wires so that the light is reflected in different directions from there, from one surface part b2 into the right eye and from the other surface part b2 into the left eye or even so that the light is reflected from both surface parts b2 into both eyes.

In FIGS. 6a and 6b the differences between the aspects of the disclosed embodiments and the known technology is been presented with the help of one example that is connected to this with the help of a substantially vertical oriented wire 2 between the eyes. It will be understood that the terms substantially horizontally and substantially vertically oriented mean that the wires will be generally perceived to be oriented in those directions. In some cases, the part of wire b2 of the vertical or diagonal can be continuous and be over half of the area of the wire. Very often, however, the head of the user limits the amount of the light beams coming directly from the light source into certain vertical direction areas that can be reflected into the eyes and in this case two surface parts b2 are formed in the wire according to FIG. 6 a.

So it is characteristic for the aspects of the disclosed embodiments that the surface part b2 of the wire or their common extension is essentially smaller part of the area of the wire than the corresponding area in the wire of the known technology. One advantageous solution for the aspects of the disclosed embodiments is a wire where there is not at all a surface part b2 but only a sharp edge.

Referring to FIGS. 7a-7o , the profile of the reflection surface b of the wire of the face protection grill of the disclosed embodiments can be straight, convex, concave or a combination of these. It can also be made of many parts. As an example of this, the cross section in broken line of the wires in FIGS. 7a and 7b can be mentioned where the reflection surface consists of one or more parts. In FIG. 7c-7j some examples of wire profiles of the face protection grill of the disclosed embodiments have been presented.

It is also possible to use more than one wire profile in one face protection grill. The reflection surface b can be placed in the face protection grill so that its surface parts b1 and b2 are in a favourable position in relation to the users eyes. For instance the three top wires in FIG. 2 have been placed so that the centres of their reflection surfaces b are essentially right angled with the eye E with their centre lines. For instance the three extra wires in FIG. 2 have been placed so that the centres of their reflection surfaces b are essentially right angled with the eye with the lines coming from their centre. The surface parts b2 are, because of the setting very narrow, causing that the direct reflection is very few.

The adjustment of the wires 1 and the profile can necessarily be used to guide the forming of the reflection. If the reflection is desired to be gotten from the playing floor the surface part b1 of the reflection surface is directed more towards the playing floor or the lower part of the wire is formed so that it guides better the reflection coming from down. This application that is presented in two examples in FIGS. 7k and 7i can come into question in case when one wants to get a colour like reflection from the playing ground to give a protective colour to the wire 1 that makes it imperceptible and better to vanish in the surrounding. In the solution according to the disclosed embodiments, the parts of the surface b1, b2 can be controlled very efficiently.

In the profiles and the setting of the vertical wires 2 of the face protection grill the same conformities to law apply as with the horizontal wires 1 even though the reflections caused by them are or can be less meaningful than the horizontal wires. The same applies to the substantially diagonally oriented wires. Only the reflection surface b can reflect light to the field of vision of the user and only the surface part b2 directly from light source L coming light to this field of vision. On the other hand their forming is more challenging because all the other wires except the centre vertical wire give a different reflection angle to each eye and thus the shadow and reflection surfaces are different from eye to eye.

The strength features of the wires of the face protection grill according to the disclosed embodiments, the extent of the obstacle for seeing, their weld ability and other technical aspects can be performed at a desired level just with the forming of the shadow surface a. This part of the surface that does not cause dazzle gives a lot of possibilities in realising the above mentioned capabilities.

When forming the surface part b2 that reflects the light directly from the light source into the field of vision, it can be taken into account what the production technique and the health issues are. For instance to avoid the danger of a cut it is possible to bevel or round the connection points of at least the shadow surface a and the reflection surface b. It can be mentioned as an example that even a 0.3 mm radius of rounding removes the danger of cut and helps also to make the production tool. It is possible to make the forming even more freely in the other areas of the reflection surface b.

A difference between the known technology and the aspects of the disclosed embodiments comes true in many different forming of the wires 1 and 2. When forming the part of surface b2 using rounding or bevelling, the width of the mentioned part of surface b2 or the straightened part of surface b2, can be for instance at most 0.5 mm or 0.75 mm. It can be any such width that it is essentially different from the known. With the values of the above straightening the fixed set radius rounding values come to be in the above mentioned circumstances maximum about 0.32 mm and about 0.48 mm.

When the surface part b2, while the width of some part or straightened width is kept within certain values, is according to the disclosed embodiments the wire in question is regarded to be according to the disclosed embodiments defined in the claims.

The wires of the face protection grill according to the disclosed embodiments can be realized by the before described way according to the disclosed embodiments for either the whole length of the wires or in their necessary places. At least those parts of the wires that cause noticeable dazzle problems should be formed and put to their places in the way according to the disclosed embodiments. Thus, not all of the wires of the face protection mask have to be configured in the same way. Some of the wires, or portions of the wires can include the cross-section illustrated in FIGS. 2-4, while other wires can have different cross-sections or profiles.

For example, in one embodiment, only those wires that are in the front of the face protection grill, or those that would be within the field of vision can include the unique cross-section shown in FIGS. 2-4. Other wires not in the field of view can include conventional wires.

In some face protection grills can also the frame 1′ shown in FIG. 1 around the wires 1, 2 be formed according to the aspects of the disclosed embodiments. The application of the aspects of the disclosed embodiments can come into the question any time but especially when the frame is situated in the field of vision. For instance lacrosse and field hockey are sports where these kinds of wire model eye protections (goggles, masks or cages) are used. Also the wire form face protection grill frames 1′ are regarded to be wires in these documents, like for instance in the claims.

The face protection grill according to the disclosed embodiments can be used for instance in the following sports: ice hockey, base ball, soft ball, lacrosse, field hockey, street hockey, American football, fencing and many different martial arts. The mentioned face protection grill is also suitable for referees operating within sports and possibly also for other sports officials.

The wires of the face protection grill according to the disclosed embodiment can be made for instance of steel, stainless steel or titanium. Their production method can be for instance forge rolling, cloth pressing, die forming or draw.

One application form of the disclosed embodiments is to fix to the profile of the known technology a separate profile that gives the form and the position according to the disclosed embodiments. In the FIGS. 7m-7o there has been presented a number of solutions to coat a wire of the known technology with an additional part 3 so that the wire changes to be according to the disclosed embodiments. In that case, the basic wire 4 can be for instance round and in the process of producing the wire or later on an additional part 3 consisting of reflecting surface according to the disclosed embodiments is installed upon it.

In FIG. 7m there is an additional part 3 that has been fixed to the wire during its production and in FIG. 7n there is an additional part 3 equipped with fixing devices the reflection surface 3.1 of which follows the lengthwise direction of the basic wire 4 and that consists of a number of fixing devices 3.2 that are used to fix the additional part to keep the position upon the basic wire. The fixing device can be for instance a lengthy profile that has been fit to the basic wire. In FIG. 7o there has been described one such solution. The mentioned additional part 3 can be made for instance of plastic, rubber or metal. One alternative for making the wire according to the FIG. 7m is to fix a profile part to the basic wire during its production for instance by gumming or by gluing. The fixing afterwards can also be made so that a tongue of the profile part is pressed into the furrow of the basic wire. This furrow can be continuous or cut.

By using the additional profile it can be possible to achieve for instance the following advantages: A face protecting grill of the known technology can be changed into the disclosed embodiments type grill either all over or in certain desired parts or it is possible to use different colours that are suitable for certain backgrounds and to arrange the sharp angle between the shadow surface and the reflection surface using soft material as then the danger of cutting is avoided and the advantages of the edge benefits would be reached as described earlier.

It should be noticed that in this description it has been stuck to one type of for disclosed embodiments advantageous realization example, but this does not however want to limit in any way the usage of the disclosed embodiments to apply only to this kind of example but many variations are possible within the inventive idea that has been described in the claims. 

1. A face protection grill including at least one wire which wire comprises a non-circular cross-section having a shadow surface and a reflection surface and which the shadow surface and reflection surface are in a certain position in relation to the eyes of the face protection grill user when the face protection grill has been placed in usage position in front of its user's face; and the head of the user is essentially in an upright position, wherein the reflection surface extends in a longitudinal direction, and a corner surface of the at least one wire between the shadow surface and the reflection surface comprises a connection point area of the shadow surface and the reflection surface.
 2. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein the connection point area is a rounded or bevelled area, and a width of which or the straightened width of which is a maximum 0.75 mm.
 3. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein, the straightened width (w) of the rounding or the bevelling of the connection point of the shadow surface (a) and the reflection surface (b) is maximum 0.5 mm.
 4. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein the connection point area comprises a sharp edge.
 5. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein a direction of the wire is horizontal, vertical, diagonal or some combination thereof.
 6. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein a profile of the wire is substantially triangular with rounded corners.
 7. A face protection grill according to claim 1, wherein an end of the wire closest to the face of the user is wider than an end of the wire away from the face of the user.
 8. A face protection grill according to claim 1, comprising a connection to a helmet.
 9. A face protection grill, comprising: one or more wires arranged in an intersecting pattern, wherein one or more of the wires have a non-circular cross-section, the one or more wires comprising: a shadow surface; a reflecting surface; a first side of the wire and a second side of the wire being formed by the shadow surface and a third side of the wire being formed by the reflecting surface; an intersection of the first side of the wire and the second side of the wire forming a tip that is substantially rounded and substantially opposite to the third side of the wire.
 10. The face protection grill of claim 9, wherein the non-circular cross-section is a substantially triangular form, and wherein the third side of the wire forms a base of the triangular form.
 11. The face protection grill of claim 9, wherein an intersection of the first side and the third side and an intersection of the second side and the third side form connection points.
 12. The face protection grill of claim 9, where the connection points are rounded or bevelled areas.
 13. The face protection grill of claim 9, wherein the intersecting pattern comprises an arrangement of substantially horizontally and substantially vertically oriented wires.
 14. The face protection grill of any of the preceding claims 9-13, wherein the third side is oriented towards a face of a user.
 15. A face protection grill for a face of a user, comprising: a plurality of wires arranged in an intersecting pattern; wherein a wire from the plurality of wires comprises: a three-sided profile including a base and two sides, the two sides extending away from the base to form a tip end; the base of the profile being disposed closer to the face of the user and the tip end being disposed away from the face of the user; the two sides of the profile form a shadow surface and the base forms a reflection surface; and wherein a width of the base is wider that a width of the tip end. 